Corporations, Money and Love
by Roaring Flames
Summary: When your alone in the world and all you have is your money. Can something as simple as a visit to the dry cleaners be a prelude to a most treasure moment? ChrnoRosette
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter One: Sleeping Feelings and Business Receipts?_

'New York City, the lively bustling town on the east coast of the continental United States. The home of the Yankees and her majesty, the Statue of Liberty. Who wouldn't want to live in the business capital of the world? Pah! Not me, that's for sure.' Thought the blonde girl as she sat down on the warm cement and watched the boats sail past her dry cleaners shop. She glanced down the road and watched one of the few cars that ever passed by approach the little out-dated strip mall. The screeches of the sea gulls annoyed the girl even more the usual, since it was so damn hot that day.

'I swear it's like our own little Penisula out here, I wish I could just separate us from the mainland and be a true deserted island', the girl grumbled in her mind, she was brought back to realty when the door to the dry cleaners swung opened. The girl slowly brought her attention to the figure that stepped out of the shop with a broom in hand. The short woman, no younger then 60, wiped the sweat of her forehead and took in a deep breath.

"Such a nice day today, isn't it Rosette?" The old lady said in a sweet tone of voice. The girl who sat on the sidewalk nodded her head lightly as the gentle sea breeze blew through her golden locks. She stood up, stretched her arms out and sighed a breath of relief. The girl's sky blue eyes glittered beautifully against the oceans deep blue waves. Her navy blue skirt blew against the wind as a giant cruise ship approached the harbor. She heard the giggling and laughing aboard the giant ship as it slowly passed her shop. Her eyes gazed at the talkative corporation CEOs and the many celebrities scattered about the deck as it approached the landing area in the harbor. Crowds of cheering people and journalists surrounded the landing area with their cameras to the ready. Rosette shook her head in disgust.

"They're just wannabes, sucking up to the rich and famous, like a pack of starving dogs", she strongly remarked as she turned around and stomped back into the dry cleaners. She walked across the old junked up carpet and lifted up a board at the counter to get through. She grabbed a chair that sat behind the counter and brushed past the drying clothing to get to her favorite window. She placed it down on the ground gently and opened the window to the other side of the ocean. Rosette placed her hands arms on the base of the window frame and rested her head. She continued to glance out at the ocean and wondered if she would ever be able to go out on a boat, to try to sail out into the unknown.

Outside, the old lady slowly began to brush the sidewalk of dust or anything else that could possibly be hidden on its surface. She glanced over to an approaching car, a nice looking one on top of that, a black Mercedes. "Right on time, as usual." She said with a satisfactory look on her face. She turned and walked into the dry cleaners with ease. "Rosette, a customer is here," she stated with her calm tone of voice. "Come up here and greet him for me, will you?"

Rosette slowly removed her gaze from the ocean to the door. She rubbed her eyes and made her way to the counter. She lifted the board and walked over to the doorframe to witness a man with black sunglasses close the door to a black Mercedes. 'Yes, it's him all right," she thought with an unsurprised look on her face. The man walked over to Rosette and casually dropped his clothing into her arm. Rosette was surprised by his sudden actions and was eager to kick his rude little ass all the way to Cleveland. She snarled at him and made an effort to tell him off, when he walked right past her. He entered the dry cleaners shop and stood in front of the counter. He turned his head to Rosette and tapped his foot eagerly.

"Are you going to do your job or not?" he asked in an inpatient tone of voice. Rosette stomped over and went behind the counter, over to the cash register. She was still pissed off at him, but knew that her job came before her own feelings and she had to grudgingly accept that. She began to work her magic on the little keys of her register and was rewarded with a little bell being sounded after she reached the total price.

"That will be $80 total," she stated in a nonchalant voice, while holding her hand out. The man pulled a $100 bill out of his pocket and handed it to Rosette. Rosette put the $100 on the side of the register and removed a $20 bill from within its contents. When she handed him the $20, he smirked and shook his head.

"You can keep that and buy yourself a new wardrobe at the thrift store down the street," he teased lightly. "I heard that there is a sale going on for the poor people in the city". Rosette slammed her hands down on the counter and gave him a death glare that was sure to send any man running home screaming like a little grade school girl. She came around from the counter, handed him his receipt and pointed towards the door.

"There's your receipt, sir. Please come pick up your clothes on the date that is specified on the paper. Thank you for doing service with us." She stated in a harsh tone of voice, controlling her urge to dismember his body and throw it into the harbor. He glanced at her as he walked through the door to his car and shook his head. The man entered his car and a started up the engine to the Mercedes. Rosette slammed the glass door shut and walked past the counter to her chair by the window. She sat down in it and glanced out into the sunset. "Someday… someday… I will be free…"

The Black Mercedes drove through the back roads of New York, regardless that it was rush hour. He parked his car in front of a huge skyscraper and was greeted by a chauffeur. The man was escorted out of his car by the chauffeur and entered the building. He was greeted by his secretary and was quickly pushed towards the grand elevator. His secretary has long ruby red hair and had the form of a professional model. Her chocolate brown eyes complimented her long yellow dress that fit around her body beautifully. "Sir, you know how Aion gets when your not on time for scheduled meetings. For heavens sakes why don't you go to a dry cleaners that nearby, better yet, why don't you have an errand boy do it for you!" the secretary nagged to the man loudly. They entered the elevator and the secretary pushed the button to the 11th floor. The man sighed and scratched his head lightly.

"Satella, the dry cleaner that I chose to go to, on my own time, is my business," he said in a calm, understanding voice. "Besides that is the cheapest place I can go to without having the media over-run me like a stampede. I hope you understand." Satella nodded her head gently and glanced her eyes over to the doors. They reached the 11th floor and a little bell sounded when the little overhead light blinked to 11. The door opened and the elevator was instantly filled with flashes of light. The man sighed and exited the elevator with his secretary. Security was keeping the mobs of reporters and screaming fans back with poles in order to give the man a safe passage to the boardroom. One of the guards opened the door to the boardroom and secured it after they both entered the room.

"Chrono? It's been a while, how have you been?" a man with tanned skin and white hair asked in a casual fashion to the man entering the room. He wore a white signature named business suit with white shoes to compliment his attire. He was a very dashing young man, in the eyes of the public. Chrono moved to over to the desk in front of his guest and sat down in his comfortable black chair. On the desk was a bunch of organized papers that need to be looked through, he sighed, and knew that it was going to be a very long business meeting.

Satella left the boardroom as soon as Chrono engaged in conversation with Aion. She tightened her grip on the folders she was carrying to her desk on the 10th floor. 'Aion has his influence wrapped around Chrono, like a puppet master controlling its marionette.' She thought in rage as she walked down the private staircase reserved for her and any other high-ranking employee in the corporation. "It's always been this way, Chrono can't tell Aion "no", this isn't a partnership at all. Pretty soon Aion will do something to send our company under and he'll have the monopoly he always dreamed of…" Satella slowed her footsteps down to a slow walk, and then paused for a moment on the staircase. She stared at the folders in her hand and then continued to walk down the steps.

It was 8 at night in New York and Rosette felt completely relieved when she entered her apartment complex. She looked at the food in her shopping bags and smiled. She thought it was so funny how she could actually fill her grocery bags to the top with food, much less two of them. 'So, this is what it feels like to make more then the minimum wage," she giggled to herself while setting the bags on the small table. "And it was all because that idiot gave me his money. What kind of person just pulls $100 bills causally out of his pocket anyways?" she asked herself out loud. She glanced at her right hand and smiled at the nice ring she had wanted to buy for weeks. She wore it proudly on her middle finger and gazed at it lovingly. It was a normal white glazed ceramic ring, but it reminded her of a pearl that she received from her father when he was a sailor in the navy. Her eyes closed slowly and she felt her heart sink fast. She pulled out a chair from the table and rested her head on the table. "Father…"

"So you understand what I am proposing to you, right Chrono?" Aion asked in a business like manner. He moved a small chart of New York harbor towards Chrono and pointed out several areas out on the map. "If we buy this property right here, we can build a nice five-star restaurant and it will have a nice view of the sunset at night. But, this area here could be a problem." He stated while pointing out a small Penisula area roughly big enough to hold small-sized businesses. "This will intervene with our guests' view of the sunset and the Atlantic Ocean. We may need to terminate it, but it's not particularly necessary at this point of time." Aion explained as he went detail upon detail to the man sitting patiently in the big chair in front of him. Chrono rubbed his eyes slightly under his sunglasses and tried his best to look professionally bored, while still not trying to provoke his business partner.

"So what are the businesses like on the Penisula, any of our competitors?" Chrono asked Aion, he didn't like the idea of narrowing the competition any further then it was in this business. He wanted to keep Aion away from a potential monopolistic competition situation between their two companies. But, what concerned Chrono the most was that he couldn't trust Aion as far as he could throw him, as Aion already bought out small fry competitors already. He didn't want to give way and let Aion run all over his corporation.

"No, the only business making any sort of profit there would be a dry cleaning business ran by a sole proprietor and one worker. That's what my informative told me, anyways. Why do you wish to know?" Aion asked while taking a slight interest in his friend's odd question. Chrono rubbed his eyes again and got up from his chair. He stretched out his arm and yawned slightly.

"Well, lets end this business meeting, Aion. I am pretty tired from a long day's work, don't worry I'll look into your proposal and get back to you in a few months. Okay?" Chrono asked in a professional manner while walking over to the door and opening it for Aion. Aion shrugged his shoulders and got up from his seat. He put his hand on Chrono's shoulder and patted him on the back.

"Sure thing, I'll be expecting a call from you in a few months, with your answer, of course. Well, see you later, Chrono." Aion said as he left the room and headed towards the elevator. Chrono slowly closed the door and placed his forehead on its wooden finishing. He sighed heavily and turned his head towards the window. The moon's glow reflected softly off his sunglasses and he ran his hands through his violet hair. He looked at the window to see a reflection of himself. He was muscular, tall, and he was remarkably handsome. His net worth was more the Bill Gates could ever dream of, he even had enough money to buy a small country. So, why was he so sad, so empty? He looked down through the large glass window, at the small little lights moving around from the cars commuting home.

"Home, family, what are those things? They are things that cannot be obtained with money, so what currency does "love" take?" He asked himself quietly. He shook his head and scolded himself. He had some many other things to worry about in his life, why should something like "love" register on his list anyways? "Register?" he spoke softly to himself. Chrono searched his pockets for something that the word reminded him of and pulled out a piece of paper. A simple receipt, from the dry cleaner's he was at this morning. He devoured the contents of the small piece of parchment for something that he subconsciously desired. But, what was it? Where was it? Why did he feel like he would gain something by wasting his time look at a receipt? He scrolled down the piece of paper and he found something on it that struck him like lighting to a lightning rod.

"I am Rosette Christopher and I was glad to have served you today. Please return in two business days to pick up the items you have left in our care. I thank you for having to do business with us." He read to himself, thinking of her voice saying it to him personally. He smiled and tucked the piece of paper away into the context of his black jacket. He turned off the lights in the boardroom and headed towards the elevator. He went to the 10th floor to speak with Satella about the transactions that went on in the meeting with Aion. 'I guess today wasn't as bad of a day as I thought.' He told himself with a smile on his face, still clutching the silly little receipt from the girl at the dry cleaners.

to be continued...


	2. Chapter 2

_Irrational Thoughts and Company Policy?_

The sun's light slowly stretched over the Atlantic Ocean and slowly began to wrap its loving rays around the quiet, dormant buildings of New York City. The sea gulls swarmed around the ocean, looking for their first catch of the day. They flew near the dry cleaning shop and screeched their vocal cords hard, telling the fishermen in the harbor of the fresh fish that swam nearby. In the city itself, a door in an apartment complex opened slowly and a tired figure stepped out into the brightness. She blocked her eyes with her arms in disgust, as the light forced her grudgingly awake.

"This completely sucks," she moaned, "Why the hell do I have to go through this routine ever single day?" Rosette complained as she turned her focus back to her door and closed it angrily with a slam. She pulled her apartment key out of her skirt pocket and locked it up, taking care not to snap the metal key in half. She walked down the steel stairs that lead down the ground floor of the complex. Rosette rushed past the gate in a hurry, realizing that she was scheduled to work in fifteen minutes. The commute to the harbor was twenty minutes; it would only be fifteen if she ran the whole way. She picked up her pace and sped passed the morning crowds at a rate that would be ludicrous with the heavy traffic. Rosette ran through traffic lights, not caring if she was going to get hit by a car or not. She decided that today was not going to be bad for her if she got to work on time for once or at least she thought. A car horn blasted as it approached the busy intersection.

Chrono rubbed his eyes as he left his suite in his hotel. He locked the door with his own key and approached the grand elevator. He stretched his muscles and exhaled sharply. He had a great night's sleep and was ready to take on anything that life threw in his way. The overhead light flashed from eleven to twelve and a bell greeted him as the doors opened in front of him. Chrono stepped into the elevator causally, pulled out his trusty pair of sunglasses from his pocket and placed it on his face with ease. He liked mornings because there was not a lot of crowds out around seven in the morning, meaning no reporters mauling him at every street corner. He could go out for his morning jog and feel at ease. The overhead light moved slowly down as he reached into his pocket, subconsciously gripping the receipt he received from the dry cleaners the day before. He didn't know was it that made him hold on to the piece of paper, he went to that same exact dry cleaners for years and saw the same girl every time.

'I feel so pathetic,' he thought to himself. "Why does my heart beat so quickly around her? It never happens when I am talking to anyone else, so why does it do that only around her?" He leaned against the back of the elevator as he continued to evaluate this rather odd situation. The elevator overhead light blinked from two to one and the little bell greeted him again. The door opened up and he left the elevator in a proper fashion. He shook his head and placed his wondering thoughts aside as he walked through the hotel lobby. He exited the building in a hurry as screams and car horns filled the lobby's wide space. Chrono glanced down the street to see what the commotion was about and began to tear through the crowds towards the busy intersection. His eyes grew wider as the scene began to get more apparent, a speeding car and an unsuspecting idiot running through the streets were going to collide in the worst possible way. He focused in on the moron running in front of the car and his heart suddenly skipped a beat. It was the girl from the dry cleaning shop. "Stupid idiot!"

Rosette heard the blasting of the car horn and the screeching of the tires as she crossed the intersection. Her blue eyes grew in horror as she realized what was literally about to hit her. All thought processes froze, like a stopped clock and began to stretch in front of her conscious. Death was approaching fast and all hope for her began to sink faster then the titanic. Her ears picked up a single voice amiss the chaos, which was occurring so quickly around her. "Stupid idiot!" the voice shouted as she was slammed into the pavement by an unknown force. The car rushed passed the spot where she was standing a few seconds ago and blew across the intersection, not caring if it hit anything in the process.

"Am I dead?" Rosette spoke softly to herself as she sat up on the pavement, ignoring the scrapes on her arms and legs. She heard a few audible grunts coming from a body that lay right next to her. "Body?! Oh jeez, I need to leave before the cops think I killed him!" Rosette panicked as she attempted to crawl away from the scene of the accident. She felt a tight pressure surround her ankle and she glanced back the source of the annoyance. Her eyes widen as she realized it wasn't some random commuter that knocked her away from the car, but a customer at her shop! She scrambled to help the man up and was repaid with a quick slap to the back of her head. "What the hell was that for?! I'm just trying to help you up! What gives you the right to hit me?!" she screamed at the man as he began to dust himself off and readjust the sunglasses on his face. He glared at her and grab her arm to drag her off the road.

"You are the dumbest person I ever met! What were you thinking, running in the streets like that?! You would've been as good as road kill, if I didn't save you, you ungrateful bum!" he countered with an obvious fury that was enough to send any normal human running away screaming. His heart was beating so quickly in his chest, not just from the rush of the moment, but by her presences alone. He was so close to her that all reasonable thought flew out the window and instead of asking her how she was, he was screaming at her. Chrono put his hand to his forehead and took a deep breath in, then exhaled slowly. Calming himself as to not further embarrass himself in front of the general public. He watched as the girl in front of him went completely psychotic on him and began throwing insults at him like a flock of starved seagulls brawling after a bread slice. The girl eventually got tired of her tantrum and took a quick glance at her watch. Her eyes grew wider and she began to enter a state of panic, worrying about "Being late for work" or something.

"Listen I am thankful that you saved me and all, but I need to get to work." She stated quickly and began dust herself off from her little near-death experience. She pulled out a piece of paper, grabbed a pen and began writing down something on it. Rosette handed the paper to Chrono and quickly put her pen back into her pocket. "Okay, if you're injured or something and need someone to pay the hospital fee. Just call that number on there; it's my house number. I'll get back to you as soon as I can, but right now I am really late for work! See you later!" she yelled before she vanished off into the crowd, leaving Chrono completely dumbfounded by how quickly she handled things. He glanced at the piece of paper in his hands and tucked it securely in his pocket. He turned around in the opposite direction that she ran off to and began to lightly jog on the sidewalk.

Rosette hurried across the landing area of the harbor and approached the Penisula as quickly as she could. Her feet pounded the cement pavement as she approached the dry cleaners. She began to speed up as she saw the glass door to the shop open up slowly and began sprinting towards it like a mad woman. The shopkeeper walked out of the dry cleaners with her broom and turned her attention to the in-bound Rosette. She waved her arm back and forth as a greeting to her, as she watched Rosette's pace slow to a halt as she approached her. Rosette was panting fairly heavy for being five minutes late, not bad timing in the old woman's perspective. "So, Looks like you're a bit banged up this morning," the shopkeeper joked lightly to Rosette while pointing out the scrapes that were scattered about visibly on her body. Rosette sighed deeply and rubbed her elbow nervously. She didn't want to worry her employer, much less tell her about the near-fatal car accident she almost got herself into.

"I'm fine, really I am!" she said with confidence running through each little lie that left her mouth. "I just fell down the stairs this morning, silly me." She laughed with a big smile on her face, obviously hiding the fact that her body hurt like hell. The old lady smiled and walked Rosette in the dry cleaners, glancing out down the road. She shook her head lightly with a smile on her face and mouthed the words "thank you" to the empty space.

Chrono entered his corporation's head quarters in a hurry, getting all kinds of concerned looks by all the employees in the lobby. Satella glance over to him as he approached her from the doors, her eyebrow twitched in anger as she saw the state that her employer was currently in. She rushed over to Chrono in a fast-paced, yet professional manner and dragged him over to the elevator. She stood next to him as they waited for the overhead light to flash to one, the lobby. Chrono scratched his head and made quick, uneasy glances to Satella, who wore a professionally calm, secretary look on her face. He exhaled quietly, while not trying to loss his professional-like charm. The overhead light blinked one and the doors parted before them. Satella dragged Chrono into the elevator and pressed the tenth floor button. The elevator doors closed slowly, cutting them of temporally from the watchful eyes of the employees. She glanced at his arm that was in a sling, and the small Band-Aids that were scattered about his body. Satella smacked her forehead in disgust and exhaled sharply.

"What did you get yourself into this time, Chrono?" she said in a cold harsh tone of voice, controlling the urge to smack him silly all the way up to the tenth floor. "It had better be good because your image, no, the company's image is at stake! What will the media think? They'll think our CEO's a street brawler or something, that's what!" She argued, while resting her back against the wall of the elevator. Her model-like body was shuddering in an attempt to hold in the pent up rage she was feeling at the moment. Chrono sighed sharply and rubbed his banged up arm gently.

"I fell down the stairs this morning, Satella." He said in a calm manner with a slight smile on his face, obviously lying to his concerned secretary. "There's nothing to be worried about, honestly." Chrono couldn't tell Satella that he almost got ran over by a car this morning, she would most likely flip out and try to sue the idiot responsible. Satella's eyebrow rose in suspicion but decided not to pursue the topic. What ever he was hiding must've been important, since he normally confided in her, like an older sister. She let out a light chuckle and ran her hand through her hair quickly to try to fix it up before the overhead light flicked over from the ninth floor to the tenth floor. The bell rang in the elevator and the doors parted before them, revealing an opened-spaced luxurious floor, a.k.a "Satella's office". Both of them stepped out of the elevator and approached her desk that sat in front of a large glass window, over looking New York Harbor. Chrono's eyes gazed out towards the harbor and focused in on the Penisula that rested comfortably near the landing area for corporate cruise liners that would occasionally sail in from time to time.

Chrono shook his head light from thinking that he could see the dry cleaners shop from the tenth floor. He instead turned his attention back to Satella, who sat down in a large black chair behind the giant desk. Satella motioned Chrono to sit down in front of her in a slightly smaller chair then her own. Chrono turned away from the glass window and walked across the designer carpet pattern. He sat down in the chair and watched as a huge amount of paperwork hit the desk with a sickening thud. Satella sat back comfortably in her chair as she looked her employer seriously in the eyes. "I've found something that might be of interest to you, Chrono." She stated in a professional-like tone of voice, while sorting through her own file cabinet that was filed almost to the point of bursting. "It's about a contract I found, dealing with real-estate in New York City, the real-estate within our own jurisdiction." Chrono's hands shifted through the piles upon piles of business transactions in which he never heard of. His eyebrow rose when Satella pointed out a particular section of a file, which was marked "Black Cat".

"Black Cat? You mean an undocumented corporate take-over of several small businesses in a short period of time?" Chrono questioned his secretary in a serious tone of voice, as he read through the documents that were contained in the folder. Satella nodded her head in agreement; her eyes were solid in resolve and showing her as a firm businesswoman that the media constantly exalted about. Corporate take-over often limited competition by almost half and it was extremely illegal if it was undocumented by the government. Chrono was completely against this greedy attempt to make more money in a short amount of time, "get rich quick" schemes often left him a bad taste in his mouth. Considering the past unlawful buy-outs that his grandfather and father made in the past that gave the company a bad reputation. It wasn't until Chrono took control of the company, that people and the government began to trust in the corporation again. His eyes were filled with determination and confidence that which seemed to capture the hearts of the population at large. Chrono was only twenty-three years old, but he was one of the richest and well-respected businessmen in the world. "Who ever thinks they can sell my property, without my permission will be punished, harshly and to the fullest extent of the law." He declared, with a hint of hatred laced into each syllable that left his mouth. No one was going to ruin the name of his corporation; he came too far to let all of his efforts go to waste.

Rosette staggered to the window by the ocean, clutching her elbow secretively. There was no way she could tell her employer of her current state, she needed to keep working. "Your going to be fine Rosette, just got to make through the day and you'll be fine." She reassured herself with confidence as she slowly sat down into her chair. Her arm was swelling up to the size of an eggplant and it took all of her willpower to not burst out screaming in pain. The store manager glanced over to her employee's arm and shook her head slowly. She didn't know how Rosette put herself in that state and certainly a fall from a staircase couldn't cause that much damage. She turn her attention to the door when she heard the bell that was placed above it ring. The manager smiled softly to the customer in front of her and greeted him causally.

"Hello, Remington."

To be continued…

AN: Yeah, I know I'm lazy when it comes to updating stuff, but Replies motivate me to work on the stories you love, but unfortunately I have no intention of updating several of my older stories, simple because I don't have the time for them. So this story and my Silent Hill fanficition will get updates, IF AND ONLY IF I get reviews on them. It's not that hard, so please R&R, if you like what your reading. Thank you everyone.

From your friend, Roaring Flames


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